ICS wins sixth straight game

The Div. 5A, No. 10 Immanuel Christian girls basketball team has now broken the 10-win mark for the first time since the 2005-2006 season.The Crusaders beat Big Pine 51-33 Tuesday in the Kerr McGee Center to move their season-high winning streak to six games and now are beginning to put themselves in the conversation with...

Comment

Ridgecrest Daily Independent - Ridgecrest, CA

Writer

Posted Jan. 30, 2013 at 3:36 PM
Updated Jan 30, 2013 at 3:49 PM

Posted Jan. 30, 2013 at 3:36 PM
Updated Jan 30, 2013 at 3:49 PM

RIDGECREST

The Div. 5A, No. 10 Immanuel Christian girls basketball team has now broken the 10-win mark for the first time since the 2005-2006 season.

The Crusaders beat Big Pine 51-33 Tuesday in the Kerr McGee Center to move their season-high winning streak to six games and now are beginning to put themselves in the conversation with the all-time great ICS girls teams.

“We have a chance to tie the school’s all-time best wins record of 17 if we can win the rest of our games this season,” ICS Coach Bob Smith said. “We’re looking forward to playing Thursday and Friday as we gear up for the playoffs.”

Against the Warriors, ICS played an excellent second half to get the win, but the first half was closely contested.

Big Pine (3-7, 1-5 Hi-Lo) center/forward Sheyanne Wilder kept the Warriors in the ball game during the first two frames. She had six points, three blocks and seven rebounds by the intermission to lead her team.

Wilder even played some point guard in dribbling the ball all the way down the floor on some fastbreak opportunities, which gave ICS some early issues.

“Sheyanne is one of the top-notch players in the league,” Smith said. “She was strictly a high-post player last year and we had some defenses to stop her from that spot, but she’s improved. She has a nice shot and she’s used to seeing double and triple teams.”

With Wilder playing well, the Crusaders (11-4, 4-1 Hi-Lo) needed someone to step up in the first half. That person was Elicia Hazlewood.

Her quick hands led to six first-half steals. She added six points as well to lead the Crusaders to a 22-20 lead by the halftime buzzer.

“She had to step up when Jennifer (Mondragon) got in foul trouble,” Smith said of Hazlewood. “She moved into the point guard spot for us and did a great job.”

ICS turned up the pressure in the third quarter. The Crusaders came out of the intermission by going to a man-to-man press, which Smith said he hoped would tire the Warriors.

With only five players available for Big Pine, the strategy worked.

Morgan Lieser, Tara Henderson, Katheryne Vitale, Mondragon, and Hazlewood all scored during the third frame, which helped the Immanuel lead balloon from two to 14 points at 37-23.

Lieser got her shooting touch in the frame, scoring 13 of her 15 points after halftime, including two 3-pointers.

“I told Morgan at halftime to keep shooting and the shots will start to fall,” Smith said of the senior guard/forward. “She’s a big reason why we played so well in the third quarter.”

Page 2 of 2 - After the strong third-quarter performance, Immanuel cruised to the win.

It was the first time this season that Hazlewood, Mondragon and Lieser all scored in double digits.

“Those three are really sharing the ball nicely,” Smith said. “We need all three of them to keep playing at a high level.”

Both Lieser and Mondragon finished with 15 points. Mondragon also added 19 rebounds. Hazlewood had 10 points on the night with six steals and four assists.

The Crusaders also got a solid performance from Vitale, who finished with six points and three rebounds.

For Big Pine, Wilder had 20 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks, while Alicia Peterson had six points, four rebounds and three steals.

ICS goes for its seventh win in a row when it faces Price at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Los Angeles.